Washington (CNN) — A long-awaited State Department environmental report on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline indicates what the oil industry and its backers have been saying — it won’t have a big impact on carbon emissions that cause climate change.

The report released Friday appears to give the Obama administration the cover it needs to approve the politically charged project, but not until May at the earliest, after a 90-day review and comment period.

Environmentalists reacted with predictable fury, accusing the government of bad intent by releasing the report before an inspector general’s findings on whether it was flawed because some participants had oil industry ties.

“This document will be seen by the entire environmental community … as a sham,” complained Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, adding that “it encourages the already widely held impression that the fix was in from the beginning.”

1 Comment

MyTakeOnIt

Why does this line have to go all the way to TX? Build it halfway to a major hub in the center of the country, say in Nebraska near a major highway, have refineries there and fuels delivered throughout the rest of our country via rail tankers and truck tankers?

Better yet, from the route map, Alberta is closer to California. Try a shorter pipeline into CA and supply the West Coast. See what the impacts are from this overall smaller project in 10-20 years and make more intelligent decisions based on experience to build an East pipeline. Texas already has Gulf oil. What is the reason to take Canadian oil to TX?

Geez. We have to go all out instead of a phased approach where there is major controversy. Start with the Moon and then go to Mars based on the info you have from the Moon.